Mid Wales Lakes & Mountains

Here are just a few seasonal snapshots. In spring and early summer you can escape to fresh, green landscapes and feast you eyes on dazzling displays of bluebells - in the woods flanking the Irfon Valley above Llanwrtyd Wells, for example.

High summer is the time to enjoy the airy views from the high country which fills much of central Wales - the panorama from Pen-y-fan, the summit of the Brecon Beacons, seems to go on forever.

Autumn invites brisk activity - walk, perhaps, or cycle ride around mountain-ringed Lake Vyrnwy.

At the end of the year, crisp days in the country followed by cosy nights at an old coaching inn are the perfect antidote to winter gloom. One thing doesn't change with the seasons - Mid Wales' scenic beauty.

The distinctive, flat-topped summits of the Beacons are equally impressive in their summer greenery and their mantle of winter snow. These peaks are the focal point for a magnificent National Park which fills the southern reaches of Mid Wales, covering hundreds of square miles and climbing almost to 3,000 feet.

A succession of smooth, open mountain ranges rise and dip across the landscape like a giant roller-coaster ride, from the borderland Black Mountains through the central Beacons and across the moors of Fforest Fawr.

Along the Beacons' southern rim there's 'Waterfall Country', a craggy landscape of wooded gorges and cascading rivers.